The Retirement of PhotoWorks and Windows XP

The End of PhotoWorks
SOLIDWORKS 2010 will be the last release to include PhotoWorks. PhotoView 360 will be its replacement and the photorealistic solution for SOLIDWORKS software. There are many more features to PhotoView360 in 2010 and by 2011 I expect there will be a full suite and be at least as rich as PhotoWorks is today without the depth of knowledge required to use it. Will you miss it? Let us know. What else would you like to see in PhotoView360? Leave a comment below.

SOLIDWORKS Viewer Change in Deployment
Starting with SOLIDWORKS 2010 the SOLIDWORKS Viewer will not be part of the SOLIDWORKS software installation. It will continue to be available as a separate download from the SOLIDWORKS website under the “Free CAD Tools” area http://www.SOLIDWORKS.com/sw/support/downloads.htm. Do you use this? Many people much prefer the interface and extra viewing capabilities of eDrawings so this is the reason behind it. Let us know if you prefer it and why.

Windows XP
Microsoft officially retired Windows XP in April of this year. SOLIDWORKS 2010 will be the last release to support both 32 and 64 bit versions of Windows XP. SOLIDWORKS 2011 products will run on Windows Vista and Windows 7 (32 and 64 bit versions) only. SOLIDWORKS is a Strategic partner of Microsoft and so always keeps in line with Microsoft as to what operating systems it supports.

Support for Windows 7
SOLIDWORKS products will run on Microsoft Windows 7 operating system starting with the 2010 release. Microsoft’s published shipment date for Windows 7 is Oct 22nd. Thus, the earliest version of SOLIDWORKS 2010 products that will be officially supported to run on the Windows 7 operating system will be SP1. However, if you search the web you will find several people are using SOLIDWORKS on Windows 7 already! Reports so far is that performance on Windows 7 is much better so things are looking very promising.

For more information please contact us on 01926 623160 or email Support@solidsolutions.ie